GUNNISON, Colo.— Colorado Mesa University track and field athletes won four events and combined for six new marks on the program's top 10 performers list during Friday's Western Colorado Open, the Mavs' final tune-up and chance for athletes to qualify for next week's Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships.
 
The Mavs sent a partial and mostly youthful squad to the meet, competing in the sprints, distance events and throws, claiming a win in each category while coming home with several additional RMAC Championship qualifiers.
 
The Maverick men won three events as freshman Walker Matthews, sophomore Zach Musso and redshirt sophomore Kevin Degree won the 60, 200 and 5,000 meters respectively.  School record holder and provisional NCAA Division II Championship qualifier Augustine Hancock, a sophomore, also triumphed in the women's weight throw for the first time in her career.
 
Matthews claimed his first collegiate win, taking the 60 meters in 6.95 seconds, just a single one hundredth off his previous season-best.  Musso finished sixth in that event and then came back to win the 200 in 22.52 seconds to also win for the first time as a Maverick.  His altitude and track-size converted time of 22.25 seconds also puts him 18^th on the RMAC performance list and currently inside the selection bubble for next week's conference meet in Spearfish, South Dakota.

Only the top 18 declared athletes in each individual event following this weekend's meets will qualify.
 
DeGree also claimed his first collegiate win in the 5K, posting a time of 15:53.03 to take over the No. 10 spot in program history.
 
Teammate Jacob Dalrymple was third in 16:03.00 while Triston Charles ran for the first time since the cross country season due to injury, coming back to place fourth in 16:05.19.
 
Meanwhile, Hancock took the weight throw with a heave of 16.52 meters (54-2.5) while teammate Christina Palmer was second with a mark of 15.82 meters (51-11), which moved her up a spot to third in Maverick history and into ninth on the current RMAC performance list.  Heather Yackey also set a new personal record of 14.44 meters (47-4.5) to take the No. 9 spot in CMU lore while finishing fourth.  She now ranks 21^st in the conference.
 
Palmer also took second in the shot put at 12.55 meters (41-2.25) while Virginia Tomon took third with a mark of 12.10 meters (39-8.5) to move up to the No. 16 spot on the conference lists.
 
Nathan Jones also grabbed second place in the men's shot put with a career-best mark of 14.56 meters (47-9.25), which still puts him fifth amongst CMU's best all-time throwers.  He also likely secured a spot in the RMAC Championships and now ranks 13^th in the conference.
 
Freshman Austin Schultz also had a season-best of 13.75 meters (45-1.5) to finish seventh and move into the No. 8 spot of program history.
 
The Mavs also fared well in the 800 as Kyle Towne took third with a time of 1:56.48.while Dylan Campbell finished tenth in 1:58.64 to move into the No. 10 spot of CMU history.  More importantly, they now rank 16^th and 17^th on the current RMAC performance lists with their converted times of 1:55.16 and 1:55.31, respectively.
 
Sophomore sprinter Serenity Burnett-Perry also put herself in prime position to earn a RMAC Championship spot after finishing the 200 meters in 25.63 seconds, placing third.  Her converted time of 25.38 puts her 13^th in the conference.
 
Rimari Facey was fifth in 26.38 seconds and now ranks 21^st in the conference with a converted time of 26.12 seconds.  She also placed sixth in the 60 meters with a time of 8.11 seconds.
 
Emma Dikken also had a season-best of 59.72 seconds to place fourth in the 400 meters.  However, her converted time of 59.15 seconds ranks her 24^th in the conference.